


A birthday on the road

by StrangeNoise



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Bill Denbrough is tired, Birthday, Birthday Presents, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Post-IT Chapter Two (2019), Road Trips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:41:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28553292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrangeNoise/pseuds/StrangeNoise
Summary: Mike and Bill are happily dating and on a road trip on Bill's 41st birthday and while Mike tries to celebrate a little, Bill is just very tired...
Relationships: Bill Denbrough/Mike Hanlon
Comments: 1
Kudos: 10





	A birthday on the road

They celebrate Bill’s 41st birthday on the open road, somewhere between Jackson and Baton Rouge. It’s a detour on their way to New Orleans that they agreed on earlier this week. Mike is in the driver’s seat when the clock in the display on the dashboard switches from 11:59 to midnight. 

“Happy Birthday, Big Bill”, Mike says cheerfully and Bill, who had been dozing in the passenger seat blinks at him in confusion for a moment before he checks the date on his phone and realizes that today is, indeed, his birthday. His display doesn’t even go back to black before several messages pop up both in private messages and in the Loser’s group chat.

“Thanks, Mike”, Bill mutters, still a little drowsy and goes to answer the messages he received. About ten seconds later, the blaring of Richie’s voice blares through the car as Bill plays the voice message the other man sent him. 

“Christ, why does he always have to be so  _ loud _ ”, Bill complains, now wide awake once again and puts his phone away for the moment. Mike laughs next to him.

“You know how Richie is”, Mike says, still chuckling, “It would be terribly boring without him bursting our eardrums with his voice mails from time to time, don’t you think?”

“I guess”, Bill mutters and yawns. He wishes he could keep up an actual conversation with his boyfriend but after being shocked awake by Richie’s voicemail, his brain wants to go back to sleep. 

Bill doesn’t say anything, though. Over the past two weeks of their road trip, he learned that, apparently, on the road, Mike needs far less sleep than Bill does. Back at home, it’s often the other way around. Bill will sit in his office until three in the morning working on a chapter of his newest book or refining a draft while Mike went to bed at half-past ten. When they’re away from home, however, their sleep schedules seem to switch completely. Where Bill usually needs only four or five hours to function during the day, he now needs at least seven and even then he constantly keeps a thermos full of coffee on hand. Mike, on the other hand, is in the constant emotional state of a child the night before Christmas. After spending the first forty years of his life stuck in Derry, he now gets excited whenever they travel somewhere, and, apparently, that means Mike is good to go after just a few hours of sleep every night.

Bill isn’t sure if he envies his partner for this, but he figures that right now, as he’s already dozing off again, is not the best time to think about that in-depth either.

Then, he feels the car slow down as Mike leaves the freeway and when Bill looks up next, they’re rolling onto the parking lot of a motel.

“I think it’s time we call it a night”, Mike says softly as he stops the car and puts on the handbrake. Bill is sure that his partner could have gone for a few more hours, maybe even see the sea of lights be slowly illuminated by the sunrise. But he knows just as well that Mike would never hold an earlier break against him and that his well-being is the most important thing to his boyfriend. So Bill only nods and suppresses a yawn as he smiles at Mike.

“Happy Birthday”, the other man says once again and pulls Bill in for a gentle kiss.

“You alrady said that”, the brunet mutters after the kiss ends and opens the passenger side door. 

“I wasn’t sure you heard”, Mike replies with a smile on his face, “One never knows what goes on in that brain of yours when you’re tired like this…” 

Bill wants to complain, explain to Mike that that’s in no way true and that he’s capable of listening even when he’s tired. But the countless occasions on which Mike told him something while he was still half-asleep, and he completely forgot about it not two minutes later speak a different language. So, Bill quietly follows Mike out of the car, thanks his partner when he gets his suitcase out of the trunk and hands it to him, and trots along behind Mike as they make their way to the small building that houses the reception desk.

Their financial agreement for this trip is that Bill pays for hotel rooms or wherever else they choose to stay; Mike pays for meals of all kinds and they take turns paying for gas. It’s the easiest way to accommodate their vastly different financial situations and the fact that Mike refuses to let Bill pay for the majority if not all of the expenses on their trip. It had been a long and uncomfortable discussion before they reached this way of handling things but it’s what works best for them and since neither man hesitates to buy the other something they want it all evens out somewhat in the end.

This agreement, however, now leads to Bill leaning over the reception desk, staring at his credit card and trying desperately not to forget every number on it again the second he reads them. Next to him, Mike is already in a friendly conversation with the receptionist, asking for places to visit in the area and nice restaurants. How his partner can just slide easily into conversations like this and learn more about a place in five minutes than Bill would in a year is just another thing that amazes the brunet. He’s visited his fair share of places in the US whenever he was touring to promote his books but never felt like he actually saw and experience a lot of them. Now that he is traveling with Mike, Bill feels like he’s truly visiting these places for the first time. 

“Finally”, Bill mutters after they finally got their keycard and made their way to their room. It’s small and the overhead light flickers a little, but the heating works better than in the last few places they visited and that’s enough for Bill. All he can think about right now is finally getting some sleep. Still, he lets Mike use the bathroom first so once he returns he can just climb into bed and pass out

Once in the bathroom, Bill takes a look at himself in the mirror and can barely keep his eyes open. He doesn’t look or feel any different from 40 and the dark rings under his eyes that had been there for most of his life are slowly going away and yet the lighting in the small room makes him look like he dies three-hundred years ago. The brunet shakes his head and hurries to brush his teeth so he can finally get some sleep.

“I hope you’re still awake enough to open this”, Mike says when Bill returns to the main room. He’s sitting cross-legged on the bed, a small box with a bow on it in his lap. With a yawn, Bill walks over to Mike, sits down on the bed next to his partner, and accepts the box from him.

“You didn’t have to get me anything, you know?”, he sighs, knowing full well Mike doesn’t listen to him on that and that once they get home, the mailbox is probably going to be overflowing with packages and letters from the other Losers. But Bill chooses to ignore that for now. Instead, he shakes the box a little and then takes off the lid. Inside, he finds a folded piece of paper. When he unfolds it, it turns out to be the confirmation for a reservation at a restaurant in New Orleans a week from now. It’s a table for eight. 

“I thought maybe you’d appreciate a dinner with all the Losers more than some big gift you’d have to drag around for the rest of the trip”, Mike explains and smiles, “We’re going to see all the others again. And we finally get to meet Stan and Patty in person.” 

“That’s awesome”, Bill says, a little in awe, “Thank you so much…” He figures he should have expected Mike to be a master at getting all of them together in one place without him even noticing he was planning it and yet it’s impressive his boyfriend pulled it off. Tiredness mixes with excitement for the moment. It’s been several months since all the Losers met in person and then it had been to fight a killer clown in Derry. Getting together now just to grab a bite to eat as friends sounds like the best thing in the world right now. 

Bill is just about to put the box aside and thank Mike again when his eyes fall onto something else inside of it that he hadn’t seen before but immediately recognizes. It’s the pen he saw at a rest stop a few days ago and considered buying for a full ten minutes before deciding the gag wasn’t worth spending money on. The pen is one of those that can write in different colors and it has the words ‘blue is for love letters, black is for bills and red is for divorce papers’ written on the side of it. Bill is sure it’ll take a while longer until his divorce is finalized but the mental image of Audra’s face when she would see him signing the papers with that pen, is just too hilarious in Bill’s opinion.

“I love this”, he tells Mike with a wide grin on his face that he finds mirrored on his boyfriend’s face, “Remind me to bring it when the time comes. And until then I’ll be using the blue tip for you exclusively.” The grin on Mike’s face turns to a soft smile and he pulls Bill in for a kiss. The brunet lets himself be guided and enjoys the press of lips against his. Kissing had never felt this good with Audra and Bill cherishes every kiss he and Mike share.

Unfortunately, excitement about the precious gifts wears off almost as soon as it came and leaves Bill tired once again. When he yawns into their kiss, Mike pulls back and smiles at him once more.

“Okay, time for bed”, he says, “I want you to enjoy your birthday properly when you wake up and not keep you up all night.” 

“Sorry I’m not more awake, Mike”, Bill mutters nonetheless and lets the other man take the box and gifts from his hands to place them on the bedside table. Mike only shakes his head, however, and gestures for Bill to get comfortable under the covers.

As much as the brunet would love to make out a little longer, his eyes fall shut the minute his head hits the pillow. On instinct, he moves closer to Mike, resting his forehead against his partner’s chest. When he feels the other’s arms wrap around him gently, he sighs contentedly and finally allows himself to drift off. Before he is truly asleep, however, Bill thinks that when he wakes up in the morning, it’s going to be the first birthday that actually feels worth celebrating in 27 years…


End file.
